


M.J.'s Nightmares

by Spideyfan62



Series: Peter Parker's Senior Year Survival [6]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Anxiety, F/M, Falling Sleep Together, Michelle Jones Needs a Hug, Nightmares, Not Spider-Man: Far From Home Mid-Credits Scene Compliant, Peter Parker Needs a Hug, Post-Spider-Man: Far From Home, Supportive May Parker (Spider-Man), Two Kids Just Working Through Everything They've Been Through
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-28
Updated: 2020-06-28
Packaged: 2021-03-04 10:35:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,159
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24968326
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Spideyfan62/pseuds/Spideyfan62
Summary: M.J. woke up in a cold sweat, panting heavily as she sat up in the bed, eyes wide with fear. After a moment, she realized she was no longer in that horrible nightmare, so she closed her eyes and steadied her breathing. Even though she was back to reality, she could still see the yellow eyes and the masked green face of the Goblin. Peter was in her dream too, subdued and force to watch as the Goblin reached for her, clear intending to kill her in some horrible way as Peter looked on.
Relationships: Michelle Jones/Peter Parker
Series: Peter Parker's Senior Year Survival [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1761355
Comments: 6
Kudos: 29





	M.J.'s Nightmares

**Author's Note:**

> In this story: M.J. deals with nightmares and her various anxieties after everything that has happened. 
> 
> A follow up to Spider-Man: Extinction

M.J. woke up in a cold sweat, panting heavily as she sat up in the bed, eyes wide with fear. After a moment, she realized she was no longer in that horrible nightmare, so she closed her eyes and steadied her breathing. Even though she was back to reality, she could still see the yellow eyes and the masked green face of the Goblin. Peter was in her dream too, subdued and force to watch as the Goblin reached for her, clear intending to kill her in some horrible way as Peter looked on. 

For the last few weeks, she had been having a dream like that or one similar to it almost every night. The Goblin would always be in it, with Peter having been horribly beaten and forced to watch whatever that monster intended to do to her. While she was scared of what the Goblin would do to her in these dreams, that wasn't the only part that made them so horrible. She also knew that Peter would be next. Once the Goblin was done with her, and Peter had truly lost, then his life would be over too. 

M.J. reached over to grab her phone from the nightstand to check the time. When she tapped the screen, it showed 1:37 A.M. across the center. "Great," she thought, realizing she had barely been asleep for an hour and a half. Thankfully the next day was a Saturday, meaning she didn't have a set time she needed to wake up at. She decided on trying to read something, hoping to get her mind on something else before she tried to get to sleep again. She got up from the bed and glanced toward the bookshelf in the room. Ever since May had agreed to her and her mom stayed with them, Peter had just as soon offered to give up his room for her. She had tried to fight him on it, and she probably would've won too, if May hadn't stepped in and insisted as well. 

Despite her nightmares, she had found herself grateful. Being in Peter's room, sleeping in the place he usually did...there was something reassuring about it. The feeling had only increased since Peter had poured out his heart to her on Christmas Eve, genuinely apologizing for how he had been behaving in pushing her and others away while hunting down the Goblin. In the 10 days since then, the two of them had been closer than ever, and even though she still had to say goodnight to him and walk away, M.J. hadn't felt like she was completely leaving him. The room, his bed especially smelled like him, and in her isolation through the nights, it comforted her after these intense dreams. 

Shaking herself out of la la land, M.J. walked over towards the bookshelf, opting to look at Peter's collection instead of her usual reading. She sifted through it, trying to pick out something that might interest her. She was sure Peter wouldn't mind (mostly he had told her she could help herself to anything she needed in there), and besides, in a way, it might help her to get to know her favorite dork even better. 

She finally decided on the most recent edition of the Guinness Book of World Records that was on the bottom shelf. M.J. reached in with her right hand and pulled it out just a little by the top before grabbing the side with her other hand and sliding it out completely. She smiled as she remembered how Peter had told her that he kept up with that stuff in case he and Ned could one day find a record they could break and get their names in on. When she had asked him what record he and his best friend were most interested in breaking, Peter had hesitated, looking down at the ground before admitting that he and Ned were particularly eyeing the world's largest Lego set. While it had been something so small, it was still something not many other people knew about him. It was one of the special moments between them where she had dropped her sarcastic outer layer and told him she thought that was pretty cool. 

Little things like this reminded her that, of all the girls he could've gone after and ended up with, he had chosen HER. 

She smiled at that thought as she sat back down onto the bed, legs crossed, and glanced through the book, going through various pages and the categories on them. Her eyes caught sight of a category she would like to tackle: most books read in a year. She traced the table of contents with her finger until she found the page number before flipping to it. Surely whoever this person was hadn't read as many as her. Right?

Wrong. Apparently some guy named Stanley Morrison had read 500 books in a single year. The most she had ever read in that period was a little more than half of that. 

M.J. looked up, staring straight ahead, eyes wide with surprise. "Wow, I've got some work to do," she thought to herself. 

She skimmed through a good portion of the book, looking up everything from the fastest marathon time (a record she had NO desire to break whatsoever), to the record for most quickly solved murder. After she yawned for the 5th time, she finally decided to look at her phone to check the time again and saw that it was 2:49 A.M. She felt pretty tired, so she decided it was time to try for sleep once more. She got up and book the book back in its rightful place before climbing back into bed, pulling the covers over her as she settled in. She closed her eyes, hoping sleep would come. 

Unfortunately, it was no good, as M.J. shot up once more, her cold sweat feeling worse than before. Last time, the nightmare had just been in her old apartment, but this time the Goblin had actually taken her to a bridge, flying in a very haphazard manner all through the city as he did so, with Peter in hot pursuit. She could still feel the unnerving chill as she heard the Goblin laugh, the queasy feeling in her stomach from the ride to the bridge, and the terror of watching Peter get beaten up badly by the Goblin during his rescue attempt of her. 

After composing herself once more, she decided she would risk venturing out into the main area of the apartment in order to get a drink of water from the kitchen. Peter would be out there, likely fast asleep on the blow up mattress he had put up in the center of the living room floor. Despite his super senses, he apparently didn't stir easily, as he said he had no memory of her going to the bathroom in the middle of a night prior, so she figured it was worth taking the chance. She walked over to the door, grabbing the knob and very slowly twisting it, not making a sound. She then pulled gently, and it made a little creak sound, but not much. So far so good. 

M.J. walked very gingerly down the hall towards the living room before turning in the direction of the kitchen. As she did so, she almost jumped out of her skin at the sight of someone standing by the fridge before composing herself, putting a hand over her chest. 

"Sorry, sorry, sorry," Peter said as he put a hand up. His eyes were just as wide as her's likely were, but he seemed a little less panicked over all, probably because he had likely heard her coming. 

"Geez Peter, don't do that," M.J. said in a half-scolding tone. 

"Do what, get a drink?" Peter asked in his usual innocent tone. M.J. had no idea how he could just sound so decent all the time. 

"Sorry," she offered, putting her hand that was over her chest back down to her side. "I just wasn't expecting you to be up. I was actually coming to get a drink of water too." 

She didn't even get in another word before Peter grabbed a second glass, filling it up quickly with some wonderful H2O. She walked over to the other side of the counter from him and took a seat. She took the glass from him, downing a few good gulps. 

After a couple moments, he spoke up first. 

"Couldn't sleep either, huh?" 

M.J. just shook her head. "Doesn't look like Mr. Sandman plans to visit me anytime soon," she said in a tired manner before downing another couple gulps of water. 

"Me neither. Why can't you sleep?" Peter asked with a genuine curiosity in his expression. 

M.J. stared at him for a moment, still holding her glass. She had really not thought about how she might tell Peter about these nightmares. In fact, if she was being perfectly honest, she hadn't planned to. While they had been pretty open with each other about most things, surely she didn't have to bother him with this...right? 

"M.J?" Peter saying her name shook her back to the realization that she had been silent for too long. His eyes were a little bit wider and carried a little more softness, which meant he was likely starting to worry about her. 

"It's nothing," she said, unable to come up with a good excuse. She immediately put the glass back to her mouth, intending to quickly down the last few gulps of water and try and go back to bed. She shuddered inwardly at the thought, but managed not to let it show on the outside. 

"M.J." This time Peter was a little more direct and firm, which meant he wasn't buying it. The wide eyed look was gone from his eyes, replaced by a more serious look, which meant he could tell it was serious. Darn it, why did this nerd have to know her so well? 

"It's nothing," she said, avoiding his gaze as she sat the glass down on the counter. 

"Look me in the eyes and tell me that." 

She turned to meet Peter's eyes as he requested, and she had the same words she had just said on the tip of her tongue. The problem was that they wouldn't come out. M.J. tried to force them to come forth, but it was no use, especially with Peter's cute brown eyes staring intently straight through hers all the way down to her soul. She eventually gave up, looking down at the counter top. 

"Come on," she heard him say, and she looked up to see him moving towards the couch. After a moment, she decided to follow him, slowly scooting her seat back and shuffling over to the couch, sitting down to his right. 

"You were having nightmares, weren't you?" Peter asked, getting straight to the point. She looked down at her hands, which were moving around each other. She forced herself to clasp them together and keep them still. 

Peter must have sensed her nervousness, because he spoke again, but a little more carefully. "You don't have to share any details if you don't want to, I just want to see if..."

"It was him," she said, looking straight ahead towards the TV. 

"I'm not surprised," Peter said. Neither of them needed to speak the name to know who they were talking about. She looked down again, which he must've taken as an invitation to speak again. 

"I get them too," she heard him say. She looked back up at him, but could only nod her head in understanding, words still stuck in her mouth, unable to come out into the world. She wasn't surprised to hear him say that. As bad as the one actual encounter she had with the Goblin was, Peter had actually fought him multiple times and nearly died during at least a couple of them, so it would make sense that he would plague Peter's dreams too. 

"How long?" he asked her, and M.J. looked towards the TV again for a moment before looking down at her hands once more. There was no way out but forward at this point. 

"Ever since that day," she said, still not looking at him. 

"Why didn't you come to me with this, especially after Christmas Eve?" Peter asked. She could tell his question was coming from a place of genuine concern for her, but part of her got unexpectedly angry at his question. 

"You've had enough on your plate," she said, her tone short and direct. "I didn't want you worrying about me any more than you already do." 

M.J. looked at him after she said this, and the light from the kitchen area revealed the hurt in his eyes, which made her heart drop a little bit. 

"I'm sorry if I ever seem..." Peter started to finish his sentence before she cut him off. 

"No, I'm sorry Peter," she said, still looking at him but not fully turning her whole body towards him just yet. "It's just...it's a couple things really, but you always worry about EVERYONE so much, I just didn't want to add to that." 

She looked down, noticing her hands were fidgeting again, but this time she didn't bother to stop them as she pondered if she should day another thing on her mind, ultimately deciding to go for it. 

"You were so concerned about me before, I was just..." M.J. swallowed hard as she fought to continue. "I was afraid that your concern and worry would drive you away from me for good this time." 

By now, she was fighting back the well that was threatening to form in her eyes. She made herself look at Peter, and she there was something in his eyes that she couldn't completely discern. It seemed like he was thinking about something, perhaps considering his next words carefully. After looking away from her for a moment, his eyes met hers again. 

"I get it," he said. 

"You do?" M.J. questioned. She wasn't sure what to make of that response. 

"Yeah," Peter answered assuredly. "I know I messed up before, and I can't lie, there's a part of me that still worries a lot. Sometimes I do wonder if I'm really doing what's right by you." 

She looked into his eyes more intently, trying to wordlessly encourage him to continue his train of thought, which he did. 

"I just...I think back to how I've gotten through everything that's happened," Peter said, his voice sounding very measured. "After my uncle died, May was always there for me, and the same was true after Tony died. Then Europe happened...and so did we." 

"Yeah," M.J. said, smiling lightly at the memory of that day on the Tower Bridge in London. They were surrounded by burning scars and torn up concrete in the wake of a heated battle, but all that faded to the background completely when she heard Peter utter four simple words. 

"I really like you." 

It wasn't just that he said those words, but the way he said them too. It was like he had been thinking them for a long time and it seemed as though a burden had been lifted off his shoulders once he said them. He had definitely looked lighter than she had seen had him in forever. Her confidence having risen in that moment, she confessed that she liked him too, and there was the kiss. At first there was just a little, gentle peck on each other's lips, but then they tried again, and her heart exploded on that second attempt. Her mind was lost to pure bliss, even if it was only for a few seconds, as felt the gentle grab of his hand on her arm, the softness of his hair in her hand, and the smooth, sweet feeling of his lips against hers. As she had walked away, planning on returning the mace back to the Tower of London, she remembers how she had a smile on her face bigger than anything she ever had before. 

For the first time in a long time, she had been really, really happy. 

To think, all of that had almost been undone at the hands of some green and purple clothed madman, and her and Peter were still fighting the results. 

M.J. looked back up at him again, trying to think of what to say next. "I guess...I mean I'm nervous for myself, sure," she clarified before continuing, "but I just...I want to be strong for you." 

"You have been," Peter assured her. 

"I've tried my best," she said, pressing on despite the feeling like her face is going to explode from the tears she is still fighting back. "I'm just afraid that, if you don't leave because you're worried about me, you will because you'll wake up one day and realize I'm not the strong, fierce, independent woman you think you fell in love with." 

By now, the tears were finally starting to leak out of her eyes, but she continued anyway. 

"You'll see deep down that I'm just a young woman who is in way over her head and is puts on strong appearance to hide how completely messed up she is on the inside." 

She choked up a little as she shed tears a little harder now, but she an arm reaching around her shoulder, gently grabbing her right arm and pulling her close. She didn't object, but instead buried her face in Peter's shirt, letting the tears flow. For who knows how long, they just sat there, M.J. letting out almost everything bad she ever felt, every insecurity she ever had in her tears. Finally she made herself sit up, brushing her eyes with her hands to try and dry them out a little as she felt Peter gently rub a his hand between her shoulder blades. 

"Can I tell you something?" she heard Peter ask. 

She wiped the last of her tears away as she turned to face him again. 

"Sure." 

"When I was trapped underneath the remains of Oscorp tower, I was struggling," Peter began. "I knew someone else's life was also in my hands, but as the weight became almost unbearable, I thought of everyone close to me. I though of Ned and May, but most of all, I thought of you." 

"Really?" she asked, her voice squeaking a little bit. 

"Yep," Peter assured her. "I kept replaying Thanksgiving Day in my head, when we were out walking and by some miracle I didn't totally ruin one of our biggest moments yet. M.J, I was so sure I goofed up when I just blurted out the magic words, but then you looked at me...gosh, you were so beautiful. You're smile looked like it could light up the world, and when you told me you loved me too...I held onto that. Those words, and that smile...they were what got me out of there. YOU got me out of there, M.J." 

Now she was getting ready to cry again for a different reason, but she was sick of crying for one night, so she sniffed hard, forcing the tears back. There had often been a part of her that wondered what drove him in those desperation moments as Spider-Man, but to think it was actually HER. 

She couldn't hold herself back anymore; she grabbed both sides of his face with her hands and pulled him to her, pressing a kiss against his lips. She felt him put a hand to the back of her neck as they just soaked each other in for a moment, all the worries in the world fading away as she absorbed the warm, soft feel of his lips. 

They finally separated from each other, but their eyes were still lasered in on each others. 

"You okay?" Peter asks, speaking up first. There's not worry in his eyes like there was before, but he still clearly wants to make sure she's good before she goes to bed. What a sweet dork he was. 

"Yeah. You?" she asked in return. 

"I will be," he responded. 

After kissing him goodnight one more time, M.J. got up, intending to start back to the room, but she froze after just a couple steps. She felt much better overall, but she was still nervous about the prospect of going back to sleep. She turned to face Peter again, who looked a little nervous too. 

"You want to, maybe...I mean, you don't have to if you don't want to, but I'm just saying...you could...stay for a little longer?" Peter stammered out. She couldn't help but smile at out insanely cute his nervousness was. 

"Sure," she said, "but we will have to go to sleep sometime." 

"Tell you what," Peter started, and M.J. walked back over towards the couch as he laid down on it, still facing her. "Why don't you lay down in a way so that you can put your ear to my heartbeat. Maybe it'll help." 

"You mean like they do in the movies," M.J. said, giving him a skeptical look. "I'm not sure that's really a thing, Peter." 

"Can't hurt to try," Peter said. 

She gave in and moved over to the couch, feeling his core tighten a little as she sat down on top of it before moving her legs back so that her feet were just dangling off the couch. She slowly laid her left ear against his chest, and she could in fact hear his heart beating steadily.

"What now?" she asked. 

"Just stay here until both our nerves calm down, then we'll go to bed," Peter proposed. 

"Okay." M.J. brought her right arm up, resting her hand on his shoulder, letting her left arm rest against the couch. She felt Peter's arms wrap around her back, and she felt safer than she ever had before. 

She felt like she was truly home. 

It wasn't long before M.J. was fast asleep, her dreams now filled with burning bridges and walks around a lake. 

M.J. eyes eventually opened once more, and as the fog lifted from them, she could see the sunlight coming through the apartment window. Peter stirred as she raised her head a little, his eyes also slowly opening. 

"Hey," he said a little sleepily. 

"Hey," she replied in a similar manner. 

"Wait, were we here all night?" Peter asked, sounding a little confused. 

"Looks like it," another voice said, and M.J.'s head spun around to see both May and her mom looking down at them from over the top of the couch as they stood over her and Peter. 

"Hey, so, we were just talking and, umm..." she heard Peter say. 

"Yea, yeah, we were just talking, and sitting, and..." M.J. tried to help him out, but they both seemed equally terrified at being caught like this, even if they really had done nothing wrong. 

"Mmhmm..." her mom said, her arms still crossed. 

"It's not what it looks like," M.J. heard Peter rapidly speak up. 

Finally both of the women standing over them let out some small laughs. 

"It's okay you two," May said, "you guys aren't in trouble." 

"We...We're not?" M.J. asked. Were May and her mom really just playing them? 

"Oh come on Michelle," her mom spoke up, "you guys clearly didn't, you know, do anything last night, so you're fine." 

"This time," May added, a little seriousness returning to her voice. "Just be careful." 

M.J. nods profusely, looking at Peter at one point to see that he's doing the same thing. 

"Well, I think some breakfast is in order," her mother said. "What do you guys thing?" 

"Sounds good," she heard Peter affirm. As the two mother figures went into the kitchen, M.J. gradually slid off of Peter and stood up on the living room floor, and Peter stood up as well. She stared at him for a moment, and he just stared right back. 

"You hungry?" he asked, shaking her from her thoughts. 

"Yeah totally," she responded, forcing the reply out. Peter smiled and nodded before turning towards the kitchen as she followed behind him. In that moment, she still couldn't get out of her head that last night had been one of the best night's sleep she had in forever, and she couldn't help but wonder just how much BEING WITH HIM had to do with that. One thing was for sure: 

For the first time in a really long time, M.J. truly believed that everything was going to be alright.

**Author's Note:**

> I really wanted to spend this one shot diving deep into M.J.'s psychology and how she's handling what's going on, so I hope I did good! Feel free to let me know if I did or not. 
> 
> Thanks to all who supported me on the last story! 
> 
> Stay safe and healthy everyone! 
> 
> "Listen my dear brothers and sisters..." James 2:5


End file.
